Merry Christmas

 I'm getting a chance to work on my own quilts this week. I completed my BOM Kate Spain Christmas mystery from Fat Quarter quilts. It's now on the frame.

Here's a block. Such a fun quilt! I'll keep plugging away as time permits. I will post a finished pic. Hopefully this year. LOL!

I wish you all a safe and healthy Christmas and see you in 2012!!

Quilt, quilt, quilt!

On and off the frame. It's a busy week.

Heart Bargello

Peachy-pink heart center

Feather border in green

Cars !

Whirlpools pattern

Next its, butterflies, animals and baby quilts!  Break over !!

P.S. Got some Almond Joy coffee creamer from International Coffee! Yum-0

Christmas Block of the Month

Enjoy this beautiful quilt done by Sylvia. This is one of the first quilts she's ever done !!!!

Way to go!

Quilting away , half done!

Snowman with light background quilting.

Jungle bell border, so cute!

Now on to the next quilt. This is a busy time as I try to get things done for the holidays.  Several more to quilt including 3 baby quilts for xmas presents for a client !! Sew , sew, sew!

Happy Thanksgiving !

Wishing all a safe and happy Thanksgiving day.

Christmas Irish Chain

In the middle of this large Irish Chain in pretty Christmas fabrics.

The pattern is Swirling by Anne Bright .

Picked out some Glide thread in Sand and it just matches the bits of gold thread in the fabrics. This is not a heavy gold colored thread and it looks soft and shimmery.

 I am also quilting some pillow shams  to go with this with a candle motif in the center.

Looking forward to seeing this all done! So pretty.

Reindeer Quilt

Very pretty reindeer applique quilt on the frame today!

Here's a close up of the design behind the applique. Can you believe that the thread color is Sand! Looks just like the shimmery gold that's in all the reindeer fabrics.

Glide thread and a red on the bottom to match the poinsettia fabric.

I'm working my way down the quilt, so back to it.

Fall on the frame

Fall table runner on the frame today. Pretty batik fabrics that quilted up nicely with Glide Linen thread. This thread is thin, strong and has a slight shimmer . It looks great with even this simple meander design.

Also just finished this embroidered quilt. This needed little embellishment as the gorgeous embroidered strips make this quilt.  These are plain fabrics and everything you see was embroidered on!!!

Incredible!

Pretty !

Have a nice weekend, it is a beautiful California fall day here!

Exquisite Quilting

I attended a major quilting conference in Portland, Oregon last week. Machine Quilters Expo or MQX. This show had been on the east coast for years, but this was the first time in the west. It will be an annual event  on this coast as well.

There were some gorgeous quilts and wear ables, classes, personalities, fashion show and even an ice cream party! I had lots of fun and learned so many tips and tricks ! It's a pleasure  to  be with others who understand my addiction!

Sunbonnet Sue is Irish?

Here are pictures of two of the best quilts that each won 2nd place ribbons in their category. These were both quilted by my friend and roommate, Deborah Poole of Shelley, Idaho. What a talent! Her quilting is very, VERY good!

What a unique quilting design on this Sunbonnet Sue. Not just the usual crosshatch! The quilting really shines the spotlight on the applique.

Isn't this border gorgeous? Great pattern choices. Piping adds an elegant touch!

The quilting on this Dresden Plate is spectacular! All those little pearls are so perfect! I love the secondary design she created by just circling the plates. Lots of inspiration here. I'm sure she will be winning more ribbons!

Karen's sea shells

On my frame today is this beautiful sea shell quilt. I just have a little more to do and then it goes home. The colors and embroidery on this quilt are so pretty. The bad thing about quilting for clients is that I have to give the quilts back!!

Baltimore Christmas

Baltimore Christmas

This quilt was appliqued by a good customer who does just phenomenal work! It was a joy to quilt, each block was so much fun. When I get a quilt like this it really stretches me to do my best and come up with new and unique quilting. This is not a quilt that you can put the same quilting on each block, as they are all so different. I know that a lot of the Baltimore style quilts have crosshatching in each block, but looking at the blocks I thought it might look very uneven. So each block has a  free flow design  with feathers and swirls and in several of the blocks the centers have different fills.

With this kind of background quilting, I  just doodle my way around the motifs , making the design fit each block. Adding feathers, swirls,or curls . Having fun as I go. I do use similar elements to tie it together across the quilt.

The big Santa needed more detail on the applique. Not only to secure the applique from poofing out, but , as he is the focal point, he needed to be special.

Some outlining, curved lines and swirly fill on his pants. I had fun with the beard too !

Do you see that cute jingle bell border in the red inner border? it is perfect for this quilt! I just love how this design stitched out.

These are awesome blocks! Well executed  by Mary O'Driscoll. She has a great talent for using the right fabric and her embroidery just finishes it so perfectly. There is ultra suede, and glitter fabric as well as a thermore type for the beard. And her applique is exquisite!
All designs were done freehand or with my Ronda Beyer cross hatch ruler. The only computerized designs were the feathers underneath the holly leaf border and the holly swirl in the corners of the Santa . So Fine thread in a soft cream  and some clear thread in some of the applique.
 The designer of this pattern is Pearl Pereira www.p3designs.com Please stop over and see all her beautiful patterns. She has some brand new ones, just loaded on her site.

Ooops, almost forgot,. the Jingle Bell border is a  digitized design by Anne Bright

Designer Mystery 2010 -Progress !

Remember these...

These blocks were in various states waiting for me to receive the last 2 and get them done.

Top completed. Yeah!! Now it goes in the line up to be quilted. I'm pretty busy until mid November, so I won't get to it till then. My goal is to get it finished and on the bed for the holidays. Think that will happen?

Do I need another BOM? Duh...of course I do !

Hop on over to Lyn Browns blog http://lynbrown.com and look at her new quilt-a-long starting this month.

Logs by Lyn Brown

It also has some applique coming later around the inside white setting triangles. You can do scrappy or controlled. Hmmmn. I probably have enough to do this in my stash . I might have to get the backgrounds as I never have enough cream/white /eggshell fabrics. I like the thought of doing a few blocks at a time. Since I'm usually at the longarm  all day, a few blocks is fine.
Uh oh, the new Hancock's catalog just arrived and I am drooling over the new Jinny Beyer Kashmir line.
http://www.jinnybeyer.com/ax_commerce/browse_fabrics.cfm?collectionID=3849F06A-BAD8-2456-4C81A18ECF59011A
 I may have to buy more fabric!! It would look so good in this quilt!

 On the frame is a great Christmas quilt, but until I get the owners OK, I will just show you a peek.

Isn't that jingle bell border cute? Just fits perfectly. I am doing all the background fills free handing and just took a break to grab a coffee! Back to work.

Taxi, Taxi !!

The Taxi Cab Quilt....

So bright and cheerful on the machine. The quilter did a great job putting this together. It has a modern feel and we wanted a quilting design to compliment that. We chose Double Bubble a Patricia Ritter pattern and it was perfect.

Here's a close up . You can see how great the design looks on the yellow stitched in black Omni thread.

There are plenty of design elements in these fabrics . We chose to emphasize the circles and it worked beautifully! The backing is the black/white/yellow print on the right and really tied the quilt together.

This design looks great in these fabrics , but would also be fun in black white red or pink. Oooh, how about B&W and lime green! Lots of possibilities for those taxis.

Next I just finished up 4 custom baby quilts and have one yet to do. Complete with binding they are ready for pickup. These are fun to make and each is different pending the client's request.

Andrew-sports theme/Blue

Ella, butterflies/lime green

Layla, Bubbles/pink

Alec, sailing/Blue

Alec, Layla, Andrew, Ella backs

I have a lot of fun picking out the fabrics for these quilts. I hope the babies enjoy them.